TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma and 16 other states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the U.S. Constitution includes a right to same-sex marriage.

The states are asking the nation’s highest court to take up challenges to gay marriage bans in Oklahoma and Utah. The states say there are 89 ongoing legal cases throughout the nation challenging traditional marriage laws. Another four have been recently decided.

The Tulsa World reports (http://bit.ly/1uDXFbD ) the 17 states seeking the ruling are among 31 states that have laws defining marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision struck down Oklahoma’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional in mid-July. The Denver-based court had ruled in June that a similar ban in Utah is unconstitutional.